18 February 2004
Beeld Plus

Soprano sparkles

Michelle Veenemans
Montpellier, Parktown North
Thys Odendaal

Michelle Veenemans is not only an extremely good singer, but also a first-class entertainer, half in an old-fashioned way where the opera stars have their audiences eating out of their hands with entertaining little stories.  

This blonde soprano from Pretoria – the genes sparkle of talent that she inherited from mother (Barbara) and aunt (Leonore) – compiled a programme of coloratura arias that somehow demands self-confidence and a portion of courage, even if it is only for a concert in a restaurant. 

With Offenbach’s Olympia aria, she evidently had no trouble and had enough time to mimic the doll’s character. Where her staccato coloratura impressed in Hoffman, so did the floating legato in Caro nome from Verdi’s Rigoletto, full of passion and love on Valentine’s Eve. Her Julliette was excellent, with the well-known aria Je veux vivre filled with waltzing grace of a devoted young girl; unthinkable that we probably would never hear her in a complete production. Arditi’s Il bacio, was coquettish, brilliantly vocalised … 

Veenemans’s evening was a small triumph!

 (Newspaper review: Translation from Afrikaans to English)